WAG Level 3 but encouraged to do other level skills

[Life.is.good]

I a newbie to gymnastics and have no clue what the norm is so please excuse this and any future dumb question lol!

Background info dd just started gymnastics in October and here we are in Ausgust and starting month 2 of level 3. We have an open house coming up next weekend and the teams have been practicing routines for the big day. I watched all the girlso n dd team practice uneven bars on Monday and beam on Wednesday, dd does what they called a level 5 cast and a level 4 handstand on beam

they want her to do these in her routines in the open house and her meets. They also have her practicing front and back handsprings...guess those are higher levels too.

Ok so is this normal? I watched YouTube videos and did not see them doing anything but level 3 skills, will she get marked down for doing higher skills?

One last thing I promise ankle weights hubby is so dead set against them are they need at her level?

If you made it this far thank you and any advise would be awesome!

 

[gymgal]

Welcome! For the handstand and the cast, it is very common for girls to include them in their routines as soon as they are competition ready. There are certain degree requirements for each level. In competition, you will see many girls surpass these requirements (like your dd's coach wants her to do). If she has them well, it's fine to put them in and will make her routine stand out. However, if they are sloppy, it's not worth it because it may cause more deductions than if she did bare minimum.

It's funny, though - I have never heard of these skills being referred to as Level 4, 5, etc. We usually refer to them in terms of degrees/position: horizontal, 45 angle, vertical, etc. Interesting to hear how other gyms name them...

 

[bogwoppit]

Welcome.

Avoid ankle weights, they have no value at all for a child this young. In fact they can do a lot of damage.

It is very common for girls to have a range of skills a level or two above where they compete. In most gyms L3 is considered per-team and those girls train skills at higher levels as they may be capable. In house meets are for fun, they give the children the fun of meets, and get them used to dealing with meets, but the scoring is simple and skills will not be judged like a real meet. Think of it as an exhibition of skills.

As to advice, sit back and watch a lot, read a lot and try to let this be your daughters sport. As a very sage dad here once said, "Gymnastics is a marathon, not a sprint". He is right.

 

[iwannacoach]

Welcome.

Avoid ankle weights, they have no value at all for a child this young. In fact they can do a lot of damage.

Ditto that^^^^^^. My only exception would be in some warm-up activities on beam and floor, but not during acro skills or dance elements. For bars, floor tumbling, floor dance, and vault.....Fuhgeddaboudit.

 

[MaryA]

Sounds like at the open house they want the girls to all show their "best stuff" which may be above the level they're competing in some (or all) events. Don't worry... I'm sure the coach won't have your daughter throwing a back handspring in a level 3 competition. Unfortunately, you don't get to start showing off your "best stuff" at meets until optionals (level 7 and above) and even then there are limits on what you can and can't do until you get to level 9, I think... or maybe even 10.

 

[sglemon]

Our gym, practices up a level then competes down. For example the level 3 will be working their level 4 skills, then compete with the level 3 skills. It helps them when they move up a level. Same thing in level 4, they practice level 5 and 6 skills, and compete level 4. It sounds like that is how they do things at your gym.

 

[emorymom]

The L3 beam routine has a handstand. She must be able to do a very good one already! And of course a lot of girls can do very nice casts at a young age. My son's gym has all their girls doing crazy casts when they compete L2.

My daughter uses 1lb ankle weights on her handstand-flatback vault because she has struggled with heel drive for many years and needs to feel it more. She is 4'9" or 4'10" and weighs about 80 pounds; I don't worry that 2 more pounds just on vault (and they don't get to vault but once a week) is going to hurt her. I wonder if others more knowledgeable in gymnastics would disagree. There might be nonharmful uses of ankle weights in L3.

 

[Life.is.good]

Thank you for all your welcomes and advise, I just want to be an informed parent and make sure my baby is safe! Great advise on the ankle weights I was really nervous about getting them for her, I made a copy of the article and will be taking it on Monday to discuss with the owners and coaches.